If the Angels were in the midst of winning a second straight AL West title — rather than, arguably, being the majors’ most disappointing team in that time — then Mike Trout very well might be en route to his second MVP award.

OK, maybe enough voters would have honored Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown and Trout would have finished second last year, but not in a rout. And, if right now we were hailing the Angels for holding off the A’s and Rangers to capture their division, then Trout likely would be heading for a landslide MVP triumph.

Because Trout has pretty much ended the argument about who is the best all-around player in the majors. And when the best all-around player in the majors has a brilliant season – which Trout again has done – and his team makes the playoffs, he wins the MVP. That is the formula.

But Trout is not going to win again this year. My suspicion is Cabrera will once more because he remains one of the great hitters ever and his Tigers have won a third straight AL Central title.

Is this fair? Trout has nothing to do with the losing. That is due to the malfeasance of Angels owner Arte Moreno, GM Jerry Dipoto and manager Mike Scioscia.

So we are off again wondering what “valuable” means. I continue to believe the award is not the Best Player Award – if it were that, I wouldn’t be going through such mental contortions. Trout would win. Both our eyes and modern statistics show us that Trout is elite at hitting, fielding and baserunning while Cabrera, for example, is just a brilliant hitter.

But it is not the Best Player Award. And while I know it is no fault of Trout’s that his team did not contend, it feels what should be honored — if possible — is a player whose great play was central to lifting his team toward what we exalt the most in this country: winning.

Though I will say, my thoughts on this continue to evolve because I see the inconsistency of even putting Trout on the ballot. If he doesn’t meet the criteria to be first, why should he be second or on that ballot at all? The contortions continue in trying to come to peace with the right way to value valuable.